She said: “I am a member of the public – just somebody who is rather cross and would like to help in what I see as “something wrong” and likely to cause more problems in this country and will not help peace. I watch i24news and noticed that a reporter was talking about anti Semitism in the UK. I really identified with what he was saying – we all feel it and are very frightened by it.

“This coupled with finding out that Preston Council were going to fly the Palestinian flag for three days. I set about contacting people for help to stop it. As you know the flag went up for either four or five minutes. All the letters that I have seen from Preston Council claim not to take sides, but I feel that they have. I was so outraged realising that I did not want Palestinian flags flying from all the City Councils and was trying to think of a way to stop it….so started the Facebook page.”

Councillor Robert Boswell had a response posted on the Facebook group saying: “If a group of Preston Citizens approach the council with evidence of a humanitarian crisis is Israel and ask us to fly the Israeli flag and the evidence seems compelling then this request would be considered. We have a tradition of flying flags in response to requests form Preston citizens. ”

A council spokesman said: “The council hasn’t received an official request to fly the flag, but any requests are considered in line with the flag flying policy.”

The Palestinian flag was flown on Friday, prompting outrage, but was quickly taken down and a peace flag and Union flag have been flown at half-mast for the past week.